Press Release Theatre (Vol. 11), The November Edition

Some stuff from our inbox, to tide you over until the next update.

And as is tradition with Press Release Theatre, long-time (say it with us!) personal and professional Friend of OMW Ann VerWiebe from Kent State University public outlet WKSU/89.7-and-its-many-simulcasters opens things up for us. (She honestly pays no extra for the placement…)

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VIVIAN GOODMAN REPORTS ON THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA FROM COLOGNE, LINZ AND VIENNA

From Nov. 18 through 22, WKSU Reporter/Producer Vivian Goodman will follow the internationally recognized Cleveland Orchestra as it completes its fall tour of European concert halls with performances in Cologne, Germany, and Linz and Vienna, Austria. Goodman began her reports with a Nov. 11 preview of the tour with Orchestra Music Director Franz Welser-Möst in which the Maestro discussed the repertoire and the program’s connection between Beethoven and Shostakovich.

In Europe, especially culture-mad Vienna, Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra are treated like rock stars. By covering the group on the road, Goodman takes listeners backstage to connect with one of the world’s best classical music ensembles by featuring less formal interviews with the musicians and responses from audience members. She will also profile the cities and venues visited at the end of the Orchestra’s annual autumn tour.

Goodman’s stories will air during WKSU’s local broadcasts of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” “Here and Now” and “All Things Considered.” She will capture audio during the day and produce reports in her hotel room with assistance from WKSU Music Director David Roden in Kent. Classical music host Mark Pennell also plans daily on-air chats with Goodman at 8 p.m. to let listeners hear additional details about the Orchestra’s European adventure.

Along with audio reports, Goodman extends her coverage by posting images and blogs on WKSU.org. Content will be added on the New and Classical Music pages on the website. WKSU’s coverage of the Cleveland Orchestra in Europe is made possible in part through support from the Noble Foundation.

WKSU is an award-winning public radio station and service of Kent State University that broadcasts to 22 counties in Northeast and North Central Ohio from the station’s primary signal at 89.7. WKSU content can also be heard over WKRW 89.3 (Wooster), WKRJ 91.5 (Dover/New Philadelphia), WKSV 89.1 (Thompson), WNRK 90.7 (Norwalk) and W239AZ 95.7 (Ashland). The station adds WKSU-2 Folk Alley, WKSU-3 The Classical Channel and WKSU-4 The News Channel over HD Radio and as streaming audio at http://www.wksu.org.

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(From Fox Sports/SportsTime Ohio)

Beer Money production seeking contestants this Thursday – Saturday

Show premieres next Tuesday, Nov. 19th at 6:30pm

SportsTime Ohio previously announced the return of the popular show, Beer Money, where contestants are asked sports trivia questions for the opportunity to win up to $130.

The network is continuing production of the shows this week and will be seeking contestants starting at 7pm at three local bars this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

(OMW note: The Thursday event was in Middleburg Heights, and the Friday event was in Mayfield Heights.)

Saturday Nov.16th – Two Bucks in North Olmsted with Ahmaad (24108 Lorain Road)

The shows will debut on SportsTime Ohio next Tuesday, November 19th at 6:30pm.

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Our apologies to the folks at CBS Radio’s WDOK/102.1 “New 102” and WNCX/98.5…we missed posting about a blood drive on Thursday. And if we missed any upcoming events, please let us know…

From TV To FM Radio

And it’s mostly an FM thing this time…but let’s start with some TV…

DR. GONE: Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 made a big deal out of its choice to replace Oprah Winfrey at 4 PM, when the queen of TV talk left the over-air airwaves for her own “OWN” – “Oprah Winfrey Network”.

Dr. Mehmet Oz from the Oprah Universe, who had already been airing on WEWS at 10 AM weekdays, would air also at 4…with the later edition being his “newest” show, and the 10 AM airing a repeat from a week earlier.

“Dr. Oz” is no longer practicing TV medicine on Channel 5 at 4 PM, in an abrupt move made a while back.

We noticed it when we turned to WEWS a couple of weeks ago, and found two airings of the half-hour video clip show “RightThisMinute”. The show has aired at various times on Channel 5 in the past.

Why so abrupt a change?

Maybe the folks at 3001 Euclid were tired of “Dr. Oz”‘s sagging ratings, and for that matter, were worried about its effect on NewsChannel 5’s “Live on Five” at 5 PM…a show that we hear has definitely seen better ratings days. You could well say the same for the station’s “Good Morning Cleveland”.

As the folks at 3001 Euclid are fond of doing, “Live on Five” has undergone tweaking…that apparently isn’t helping the ratings.

We’re told that “RightThisMinute” isn’t really improving things so far in the former “Dr. Oz” slot, though it is early. (“RTM” is owned by a consortium including Scripps, and WOIO/19-WUAB/43 owner Raycom Media.)

“Dr. Oz” continues on WEWS in its original 10 AM time slot, and according to listings, also airs at 1:37 AM…

GRACE FINALLY MAKES IT: Shortly after Akron’s Rubber City Radio Group bought WNWV/107.3 and returned it to its historic “Wave” identity, back in early 2012, we noticed a new staff member:

Also aboard the new “Wave” is Grace Roberts, who started her career at the station (under Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting ownership, of course), and eventually became a mainstay at Radio One urban AC WZAK/93.1 and gospel WJMO/1300.

There was only one problem with our item.

Despite the fact that Rubber City even added Grace to its new website, she never actually took the job at WNWV…choosing, we heard later, to stay with Radio One instead.

It turns out the announcement of Grace joining the Wave was about a year and nine months premature, as Roberts does indeed now join the “107.3 The Wave” staff…really.

From AllAccess:

RUBBER CITY RADIO GROUP Smooth AC WNWV (107.3 THE WAVE) has named GRACE ROBERTS as its new Community Affairs Director. ROBERTS will also join the WAVE MORNING SHOW team, with longtime host DAN DEELY beginning OCTOBER 28th.

Roberts tells the AllAccess folks that she’s followed Deely’s career over the years, and says it’s an honor to be working with him.

As we noted in the first item, Grace Roberts is well known for her stint as WZAK’s long-time overnighter, and her work in middays at sister gospel WJMO…and started her career at the first incarnation of WNWV under Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting’s ownership…

NEW WKSU PD: Kent State University public outlet WKSU/89.7-and-its-many-simulcasters has named a new program director. She’s Ele Ellis, who comes to the Kent-based station from WUGA in Athens GA.

Quoting WKSU executive director Dan Skinner in a release sent to us by (say it with us!) long-time personal and professional Friend of OMW Ann VerWiebe, the station’s marketing/public relations guru:

“We feel very fortunate to have Ele on board to help lead the station into an undiscovered public radio future. Her knowledge of programming – including news, classical music and even folk music – and her obvious love of public radio makes her an ideal fit for WKSU.”

Yes, “even folk music”, as Ellis rose from show host to program director of AAA/Americana/variety WNCW in Spindale NC. She hosted the bluegrass program “Goin’ Across The Mountain”.

WNCW is well-known in public radio circles for its music, and covers a wide swath of the Asheville NC and western North Carolina area, with translators in Charlotte and other cities.

WUGA’s schedule appears much like WKSU’s, before it added news/talk programming in middays…

THIS IS NPR: If you spend even a little time listening to WKSU and other NPR stations, you probably can hear the voice in your head…”This is NPR”, which used to be followed by “National Public Radio”.

That voice was Frank Tavares, who intoned the above and read thousands of underwriting announcements from his Connecticut home for three decades.

The public radio giant announced this week that a female voice will replace Tavares on the air, Sabrina Farhi.

From NPR’s press release, quoted on Jim Romenesko’s site.

Listeners will begin to hear Farhi’s own articulation of “Support for NPR comes from…” in November, as she reminds audiences of the multitude of Member stations, corporations and institutions who contribute funding to NPR and public radio.

But the little reported news involves those NPR online sponsor credits, which, according to the public media trade publication “Current”, were voiced by someone within the OMW Coverage Area:

Joe Gunderman, a production coordinator at WKSU in Kent, Ohio, and an announcer of NPR’s digital sponsorship credits, will also be replaced. Gunderman and Tavares were invited to apply for the new position, according to NPR.

And to complete the WKSU part of this story, of course, NPR VP/programming Eric Nuzum is an alumnus of the local station as well, starting his career as a student employee, and later becoming one of Ellis’ predecessors as program director…

AND ONE MORE ON WKSU: And believe it or not, this one didn’t come from (see above).

We were stumbling across the FCC databases tonight when we found an application earlier this year for a WKSU translator in Mansfield.

The 22 watt signal at 95.1 would not be a powerhouse, but would restore NPR news/talk programming to much of Mansfield that lost it when Ohio State University’s WOSU-FM decided to mount the station’s all-classical service (based at newly acquired WOSA/101.1 “Classical 101” Grove City/Columbus) on WOSV in that Mid-Ohio city.

The proposed Mansfield translator lists WKSU’s nearest full-power repeater signal, WKRW/89.3 Wooster, as its intended primary.

WKSU also operates 80 watt W239AZ/95.7 in Ashland, another translator that doesn’t made it to the heart of Mansfield.

The WKSU translator in Boardman in Mahoning County is now off the air, and has disappeared from all databases…

More Than Just A Twitter Recap

We’re catching up again.

But a sudden, unexpected amount of free time means this is much more than a recap of what we’ve posted on social media. It’s really an old style OMW blog post…

DARREN TOMS EXITS OAK TREE: Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100 Cleveland news director Darren Toms is heading out of the building for a non-radio job. He’ll be the first Director of Community Outreach for the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

Darren’s last day at Oak Tree will be October 28th. The opening caused by his departure is posted on Clear Channel’s career site.

CHANNEL 3 MOVES: We already told you about local TV news veteran Jack Marschall joining the folks at 13th and Lakeside as a freelance reporter. There are other changes at Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 as well.

Kristin Anderson rejoins Channel 3 News as a reporter – er, multimedia journalist. Her husband John was recently moved to the station’s “Channel 3 Today” morning show alongside meteorologist/co-host Hollie Strano.

Reporter Stephanie Coueignoux is leaving for Florida. She tells OMW:

I’ve met so many incredible people during my time here. I leave with everyone in my heart!

She exits October 23rd.

Danielle Wiggins, winner of the station’s “Traffic Tryouts” contest, becomes WKYC’s morning traffic reporter. But, she’s not entirely without broadcast experience, according to Frank Macek’s “Director’s Cut” blog:

Wiggins most recently produced the Regina Brett Show at WKSU-FM/89.7 FM.

And thank you again to long-time Friend of OMW Ann VerWiebe, WKSU’s marketing guru, who told us about Danielle’s new job in a comment we just found and approved. We do owe Ann at least one “Ann’s Corner”, and more.

Frank Macek also notes two off-air departures from WKYC: technician Bob Keyes, retiring after a nearly 30 year run, and 11 PM executive producer Jennifer Nickels, who takes a similar job at Raycom NBC affiliate WAVE-TV/3 in Louisville KY…

A SLIGHT GHOULARDIFEST MOVE: Yes, local and national TV legend Tim Conway is still coming to this year’s “Ghoulardifest”.

But the time on Saturday, November 2nd has changed due to changes in Tim’s travel plans…he’ll be there at 2 PM that day, as opposed to the earlier announced time of 10 AM.

The Northeast Ohio native, who was born in Willoughby and grew up in Chagrin Falls, worked alongside “Ghoulardi” himself, Ernie Anderson at then CBS affiliate WJW/8…coming over from then-KYW/3 (today’s WKYC).

Conway will be interviewed on-stage by another Northeast Ohio native, Dan O’Shannon, executive producer of ABC’s hit comedy “Modern Family”.

The 2013 edition of “Ghoulardifest”, as usual, includes Anderson’s successors at WJW – “Big Chuck” Schodowski, Bob “Hoolihan” Wells (an OMW reader) and “Lil’ John” Rinaldi – and many more.

“Ghoulardifest” has moved this year, to the LaVilla Banquet and Conference center at 11500 Brookpark Road. It’ll be held November 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Many more details are here.

And it may just be coincidence that as we write this, “McHale’s Navy” is airing on the 8.2 “Antenna TV” subchannel of Tim Conway’s old station, WJW….

CHAD’S BACK ON THE RADIO: Chad Zumock, who was bounced from his gig on Clear Channel rock/talk WMMS/100.7’s “Alan Cox Show” after, uh, off-air problems (search our archives for more), is back on the radio again…at least once a week.

Chad will be heard Sundays at 9 PM on “Sunday Nights with Chad Zumock”, on Murray Hill alt-rock/AAA WLFM-LP/87.7 “Cleveland’s Sound”. (Or, for you old school people rocking an analog tuner on your TV, Channel 6.)

The station’s announcement of Zumock’s new hour-long weekly show is here.

We believe the Sunday night show will feature selections from Zumock’s podcast, which can also be heard on his website.

The show premieres on “Cleveland’s Sound” at 9 PM on October 20th, which if you’re reading this on Sunday, is tonight. The first guest is Cleveland Cavaliers player C.J. Miles…

Early Tuesday Compilation

Here goes…

WNIR TRYOUTS: Media-Com talk WNIR/100.1 “The Talk of Akron” brings in two radio pros Tuesday morning alongside Steve French and Phil Ferguson: Mike Novak (ex-WQMX) and Angela Bellios (ex-WKDD, WHBC-FM). Novak has been on for a few days now, as WNIR seeks to replace Stan Piatt. Maybe they won’t hire a comedian as expected? Bringing in Angela Bellios may be a sign that they keep the composition of the old show, and actually replace Maggie Fuller as well as Stan…

WE HARDLY KNEW HIM: Clear Channel top 40 WAKS/96.5 “Kiss FM” night voicetracker Jackson Blue is out at Boston’s “Kiss 108”. He’s presumably out at WAKS as well. Our title for this item comes from a brief Twitter conversation we had with Mr. Blue, when we mentioned his presence on the local “Kiss FM”…

WHERE’S DR. OZ?: The popular TV doctor is still on at 10 AM on Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5, but there’s a big Dr. Oz sized hole at 4 PM. “NewsChannel 5” had added Dr. Oz to its news lead-in slot with much fanfare, keeping him on at 10 AM as well – a repeat of a previous week’s 4 PM show. But listings this week and beyond show what we saw Monday, the video clip show “RightThisMinute” on at 4…

MARRIED AND TOGETHER ON AIR AGAIN: We also haven’t noted the re-hiring of Kristin Anderson as a reporter at Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3, (re)joining her husband John Anderson at 13th and Lakeside (John is now anchoring the station’s morning show with Hollie Strano). The always reliable Frank Macek, WKYC senior director, has more on his “Director’s Cut” blog…

John Hambrick Passes Away

The anchor who started a family brand name in Cleveland TV news has passed away.

John Hambrick, who came to Cleveland in 1967 and helped steer Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 to local TV news dominance in the early 1970’s, passed away Tuesday in a Texas hospital after a battle with cancer. (Photo by NewsNet5.com)

“TV 5 Eyewitness News” went from the local news cellar to the penthouse with Hambrick and co-anchor Dave Patterson, with household names in local TV news by their sides…sports director Gib Shanley and weather anchor Don Webster, with commentary provided by icon Dorothy Fuldheim.

And about that brand – two other Hambricks ended up doing TV news in Cleveland.

John’s brother Judd was a fixture at WKYC in the early 1980s, after starting at the station then known as WJKW/8, and his other brother Mike had a very brief run at WEWS itself. Judd has retired from TV, and the station says Mike now works for SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show”.

But John Hambrick started it all.

Several of his former “Eyewitness News” colleagues speak fondly of his time at 3001 Euclid, in an article on NewsNet5.com by the station’s Tom Livingston. (The link also leads to video of an excellent story by WEWS’ Leon Bibb, with plenty of clips of Hambrick.)

Webster, who later moved into management at WEWS, calls Hambrick a “true gentleman and a pro” who guided the news team without grabbing the spotlight.

Co-anchor Dave Patterson says Hambrick had a “dynamic approach” that came naturally, and that the “Eyewitness News” team was “greater than the sum of the individual talent”.

The NewsNet5 article also notes that Hambrick was very much one of those local TV news anchors who relished international field reporting, including covering major stories in the Middle East, Japan, and Puerto Rico, along with coverage of national political conventions.

And John Hambrick apparently missed Cleveland, after leaving for Los Angeles in 1975, and future work in other big markets like Miami, San Francisco and New York City.

From the NewsNet5 piece:

“I think I made a mistake in leaving Cleveland,” he told Ted Henry in 1992. “I look back on Cleveland, and my time in Cleveland as the one genuine success in my career.”

Cleveland Plain Dealer TV writer Mark Dawidziak covered Hambrick’s death as well, and Hambrick repeated those sentiments about Cleveland in an E-mail to the paper, for an article by Dawidziak earlier this year.

“The years at WEWS were extremely important to my career,” Hambrick said. “In fact, they jump-started it. While I appreciate the subsequent years in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Miami and a short stint in Beaumont, Texas, I often wonder how things would have turned out had I stayed in Cleveland.”

Hambrick returned to his native Texas after his TV news days were done, and was working on a Civil War movie project in recent years, after having already done a PBS documentary.

The versatile former local news anchor produced and wrote a country music album while he was in Cleveland, “Windmill in a Jet Filled Sky”…after having recorded the song “Mechanical Man” with his brothers, Judd and Mike…

Quicker Hits

Random thoughts about recent media news…since we have more time…

THE PAIN FEELER: The pain was felt by dozens of staffers at the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Wednesday, which dropped the job axe on a large number of its editorial staff as it prepares to go to four-day-a-week home delivery.

From the Newspaper Guild union’s “Save The Plain Dealer” Facebook page:

Today, The Plain Dealer eliminated the jobs of approximately 50 journalists whose dedication produced one of the country’s best newspapers. The layoffs abolished more than one-third of an already depleted newsroom staff.

(snip)

Many of those let go will be familiar names to readers – reporters, columnists, photographers and artists whose bylines have accompanied some of the paper’s finest content, and whose expertise touches virtually every subject the paper covers, from transportation and investigative reporting to education and sports coverage. Many others, though less well-known publicly, have been every bit as essential to the quality of The Plain Dealer. They are editors, page designers and others whose skills have ensured a high-quality daily newspaper.

We have no doubt that the gifted Plain Dealer journalists whose jobs were spared will continue to do good work. But they will do so in spite of, not because of, the radical changes that Advance Publications is imposing on its newspapers.

Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 “NewsChannel 5” reporter John Kosich reports that employees who didn’t get a last day at work – they were informed of their layoffs by a phone call Wednesday morning telling them not to come into work – got together on the steps of the newspaper’s Superior Avenue building for goodbyes among themselves, and commisseration from those who were spared.

The newsies then went to Market Garden Brewery in Cleveland’s Ohio City area, where they were treated to free drinks…courtesy of newspapers, employees and friends from across the country:

This is pretty amazing. Our phones have been ringing off the hook all day from other newspapers and individuals all across the country and even Norway offering to buy rounds of beer for The Plain Dealer journalists laid off today. The support is touching and really show how important our Local newspaper is!

The impetus for the generosity was most likely a tweet from Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz, picked up by the Poynter web site:

Fellow journos: Pls join me & call 216.621.4000 to pay for a brew or two tonight for laid off Plain Dealer staff. Thnx @Mrkt_Grdn_Beer.

And we aren’t the only ones to notice the irony at the page carrying the Poynter article on the PD layoffs. Look, over there to the right!

Latest Jobs
Sports Reporter
Northeast Ohio Media Group
Reporter
Northeast Ohio Media Group

The Northeast Ohio Media Group is the new digital entity overseeing the future of Advance Publications’ operations in Cleveland, particularly the online content which will become more important with a revamped cleveland.com (and less Plain Dealer content and employees).

A quick look at one of the job ads shows a very different job description than what the departed PD journalists worked under. For one, we bet the need to know SEO (Search Engine Optimization) principles was not in the print newsies’ job descriptions.

Some of the layoffs were voluntary, hoping to spare others from losing their jobs. Among those on that list, according to NewsChannel 5, were reporters Tom Breckenridge, John Mangels and the face of the Newspaper Guild union in all this, Harlan Spector…

ARIEL: It’s been the “Ariel Castro Show” all morning on Cleveland TV all morning, with all four local newsrooms airing live coverage of the sentencing of the man who kidnapped and held four people hostage for years – Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight, and the young child born in captivity to Ms. Berry.

It’s been wall to wall on all stations, and all news operations are also offering a live video feed of the proceedings.

And one station, Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3, is offering a separate online feed labeled “Warning: Unedited Live Castro coverage”…

Broadcasting Under The Influence

In less than 24 hours, two prominent Cleveland TV personalities got pulled over by the police, in two entirely separate traffic stops.

First in the OVI Charges Hopper is someone who’s no stranger to the routine.

After all, it was in 2003 when local sportscaster Chuck Galeti, a veteran of a number of area TV sports operations, had an alcohol fueled car crash and entered rehab after his first tangle with being caught driving under the influence.

In 2013, police in Parma picked him up on OVI charges early Friday, according to numerous local media reports (here’s one from the Plain Dealer’s Cleveland.com):

Police said an officer saw Galeti go through a red light about 1:50 a.m. at the intersection of West Pleasant Valley and Ridge roads. When the officer tried to pull the car over, police said the driver did not stop. The car stopped after a brief pursuit. The officer said he saw an open container of alcohol in the car and smelled alcohol on the driver’s breath.

The sportscaster was taken to the Parma police station where he refused a breath test. Police said he did not have his driver’s license with him.

Galeti’s first OVI arrest 10 years ago was most notable for his seemingly devil-may-care goofy smile in his 2003 mug shot.

It looks like while he (allegedly) didn’t learn how not to drink and drive when picked up by Parma police last Friday, he at least learned not to look like a goofball in his 2013 mug shot (seen here on Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5’s NewsNet5.com). (And no, we can’t find the 2003 version.)

Chuck’s most recent TV home has been SportsTime Ohio, where the network gave Galeti a late night call-in show entitled “Chuck’s Last Call”. Yes, this is the same outfit that also gave noted past gambler Bruce Drennan a show called “All Bets Are Off”.

Will it be the last call for Galeti’s show?

Readers of this blog know well that SportsTime Ohio, started by the Cleveland Indians-owning Dolan family, was sold to Fox Sports Ohio late last year.

The FSOhio mothership has released a brief statement about L’Affaire Galeti:

“We have suspended production of Chuck’s Last Call until further notice. We will respect the ongoing legal process and have no additional comment at this time.”

It appears in the world of TV and broadcasting, “we will respect the ongoing legal process” combined with the production’s suspension (and removal from the FSO website) would seem to indicate that unless Galeti is cleared of all charges, “Chuck’s Last Call” has indeed probably seen its last call.

Galeti has worked at a number of area stations. After starting at Vindicator Youngstown NBC affiliate WFMJ/21, he’s also been seen on Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3, and a stint at Raycom Media CBS/MyNet combo WOIO/19-WUAB/43’s “19 Action News” before setting up his, uh, bar on SportsTime Ohio. He’s also been heard on area radio stations, including substitute work for afternoon drive host Mike Trivisonno on Clear Channel talk WTAM/1100.

As noted, Galeti isn’t the only local TV personality who got picked up by police on Friday, going out for a spin with the alleged enhancement of alcohol.

But Local TV Fox affiliate WJW/8 “Fox 8 News in the Morning” personality Kenny Crumpton wasn’t “kickin’ it” at a local business or event Friday evening, except maybe personally.

PD/Cleveland.com reporter Donna Miller:

Lakewood police stopped his Range Rover about 10:30 p.m. Friday in the 1500 block of Orchard Grove Avenue.

According to the report, officers saw the Range Rover fail to stop at a stop sign at Detroit and Brockley avenues, then turn right on Detroit and left on Orchard Grove without using a turn signal.

“I could smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Crumpton’s breath,” an officer wrote. “Crumpton’s speech was slightly slurred and he had glassy eyes.

(Lakewood police mug shot/Cleveland.com)

Miller goes on to note that Crumpton told officers he had “less than two beers in 15 minutes” at a Lakewood establishment called “World of Beer” (well…).

“Fox 8 News”‘ story on their own reporter focuses on Crumpton’s not guilty plea, and has a statement from his attorneys:

“At this time Mr. Crumpton will be entering a plea of not guilty. We ask your patience as the judicial process runs its course,” said Ann Oakar and Joe George, Crumpton’s attorneys, in a statement.

Our gut feeling (which has been wrong before) is that “Kickin’ It With Kenny” will return to the popular “Fox 8 News in the Morning”…if only because it is (as far as we know) Crumpton’s first brush with the law…

Quick Hits For May

Some quick hits before we focus on Cleveland’s media obsession this past week…which will be in a separate item as soon as we get a Round Tuit(tm)…

SUNNY FORECAST: Congratulations to former Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 “NewsChannel 5” morning weather forecaster Christine Ferreira.

As predicted, she’s landed at a TV station in her new/returned to hometown area of Central Pennsylvania, Hearst NBC affiliate WGAL/8 in Lancaster PA…where she’s that station’s midday and weekend forecaster…

FRIENDLY GHOST – IN NORTHEAST OHIO, AT LEAST: OMW reader Kasper has returned to the Northeast Ohio airwaves, via the magic of Clear Channel’s voicetracking.

He’s now heard in afternoon drive at the company’s Akron market now-CHR WKDD/98.1…and three hours after his show ends, the other radio member of his household, wife Krissy Taylor, does a nighttime show for the station.

Kasper always went first-name-less before, but has adopted the name “Adam” at his new home base, Clear Channel top 40 powerhouse WRVQ “Q94” in Richmond VA.

He told Twitter followers that “Adam” is actually his middle name, and tells us that he made the switch just to change things up at this point in his career.

Back in Northeast Ohio, on a signal that doesn’t do a bad job at all of reaching his hometown of Youngstown, or much of former home base WAKS/96.5 “Kiss FM”‘s territory, he’s just Kasper, as per usual…

MOVE MADE: OMW hears that Cleveland’s Radio One cluster is in new digs at 6555 Carnegie Avenue.

Urban AC WZAK/93.1, hip hop WENZ/107.9 “Z107.9”, gospel WJMO/1300 “Praise 1300” and brokered/talk WERE/1490 “NewsTalk 1490” had long been based at 2510 St. Clair Avenue.

The CBS Radio cluster nearby had already left, with AC WDOK/102.1 “New 102” and hot AC WQAL/104.1 “Q104” exiting “One Radio Lane” a couple of blocks away…and camping out with clustermates sports WKRK/92.3 “The Fan” and classic rock WNCX/98.5 in cramped space at the Halle Building…

EGG AND FORMAT FLIPS: A pair of Youngstown market stations that are no stranger to format flips have done so again.

Apparently no longer headed for former Cleveland City Council member and WHWN/88.3 Painesville principal Nelson Cintron’s ownership, WYCL/1540 Niles is once again classic country “The Farm”, and WHTX/1570 Warren has returned to standards as “The Fabulous 1570”.

Cintron’s Sagittarius Communications had planned to buy the stations last fall from OMW reader Chris Lash’s Whiplash Radio, and the formats had already changed – Spanish-language “La Nueva Mia” on 1540, and urban AC using Cumulus’ “The Touch” 24/7 satellite format on 1570.

More on this one as we hear how things unraveled and returned to the past…and the composition of the “Group Radio LLC” company listed on the stations’ websites, but not in FCC records (at least that we can find)…

Bleeping Bleep, You’re Fired

An administrative note, first: Ohio Media Watch is on “deep hiatus”. Things Offline(tm) have conspired to reduce our available free time to almost zero.

We’ll try to continue getting the Big News up here as soon as possible…items like the last few ones, for example.

Any other items will be posted as soon as possible to our growing social media presence.

You don’t need to be signed up at Facebook or Twitter to read our items… just click here or read the feed at the right of this page.

If the current situation continues, we may just redirect this page to our Twitter page. Again, you don’t need to have a Twitter or Facebook account to just read the page…it’s a regular web page, no login required.

At least one regular OMW reader actually asked if your Primary Editorial Voice(tm) is still alive…yes. And despite musings from a certain sports talk radio host, we’re not having a nervous breakdown.

Now, on we go to our own “musings”.

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George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words” have been on over-air broadcasting’s no list for decades, though some have less “power” than others these days.

The two words uttered by a rookie North Dakota TV news anchor Sunday night are still very much verboten…and that impromptu “bleep bomb” got West Virginia University grad A.J. Clemente the title of “former” anchor/reporter for KFYR-TV in Bismarck, North Dakota…ending a one-show stint as weekend co-anchor for “NBC North Dakota News”.

The same co-anchor who introduced him to the audience in the early news sat on the set alone during the newscast’s late report, apologizing for her now-former co-anchor’s behavior hours earlier.

As long-time OMW reader Ed Esposito, VP/information media for Akron’s Rubber City Radio Group, points out…young Mr. Clemente is far from the first broadcaster to inadvertently drop salty language on the air.

Here’s the take from the Radio-Television Digital News Association’s secretary-treasurer, in an item on the RTDNA.org website…“Memo to AJ: Learn, don’t burn”:

I was working at Bluefield, West Virginia at the then-combo of WHIS-TV/AM/FM when an offhand remark through the cue channel using the newsbooth mic somehow wound up bleeding into the West Virginia University-Virginia Tech game. Most people weren’t prepared to hear another voice joining Jack Fleming and Woody O’Hara in the booth, much less one using one of George Carlin’s seven words.

That was Saturday. On Monday, I was toast. I still recall the discomfort General Manager John Shott had in firing me; he honestly regretted having to do so but it was a no-brainer. Just as it was a no-brainer for KFYR-TV General Manager Dick Heidt to do the same thing. Only difference: these days the FCC has the axe waiting overhead for stations running afoul of their profanity regulations, and the axe swings up to $375,000.

Since A.J. Went Viral, we’ve heard stories privately from readers… one tells us at his own very first radio gig, he dropped the “S-bomb” when he was nervous…then startled by a co-worker tapping his shoulder during a short commercial break where he left the microphone on.

Since Bismarck is a very, very small TV market, perhaps a very small audience heard A.J.’s Mistake when it happened.

But the following week, A.J. Clemente was back on “NBC North Dakota”…not as an employee doing news, but as a guest on the entire network’s “Today” show.

Add to that appearances on CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman”, on MSNBC, and the syndicated “Kelly and Michael” morning talk fest, and his audience numbers easily dwarfed his Sunday night viewership numbers.

And in today’s online world, just ONE clip of Clemente’s slip on YouTube has over 1.3 million views at this writing…with numerous other clips with hundreds of thousands of views.

We aren’t linking or embedding the clip here – in part because of the language (we’ve been filtered by web filters doing that before), but also because just typing the name “A.J. Clemente” into YouTube’s search engine provides a wide range of options, including clips of Clemente on the above mentioned shows.

Will dropping the two most feared words on live TV in North Dakota turn into a career booster for A.J. Clemente?

As Ed Esposito points out in his RTNDA.org item:

You are in journalism and television because it is a calling. It’ll be harder finding your next opportunity, but somewhere there’s a television GM and news director (or a radio manager, or a web manager) willing to bet that which didn’t kill you will make you stronger. You won’t take such guidance as “always treat a mic as live” lightly anymore.

Ed notes that things that could have been “career killers” in the past have happened in this very market, including female anchors disrobing on camera (shout out to St. Louis!).

Oddly enough, former Raycom Media CBS affiliate WOIO/19 “19 Action News” anchor Sharon Reed has something in common with A.J. Clemente…she also appeared on the Letterman show after her “Body of Art” series gained nationwide notoriety…

Wilma’s Exit

It’s no surprise that “Fox 8 News” anchor Wilma Smith would retire sometime soon…it’s just not been known when.

That changed on Monday, when the long-time WJW/8 anchor (with a total time in Cleveland TV news of some 35 years) announced to viewers that she was calling it a career at the end of May.

A lengthy, steady career it’s been for the former Wilma Pokorny.

Wilma is one of the last remaining members of a class that dominated the local TV landscape in Cleveland for decades.

She spent a lot of her nearly 20 years at WJW, now Local TV’s Fox affiliate – after a decade-and-a-half plus run at Scripps ABC affiliate WEWS/5 – with co-anchor Tim Taylor, another member of that group.

Since 2005, she’s been co-anchoring the 6 PM edition of “Fox 8 News”…first with Taylor, then with current partner Lou Maglio.

But many of us remember her many years at “TV5 Eyewitness News” with another bedrock of local TV news, Ted Henry.

Both Taylor and Henry are retired, and Wilma Smith now joins that illustrious list.

The “Fox 8 News” website article on her departure has a quote or two:

“It’s a lovely gift to be able to leave on your own terms,” says Wilma. “You may not see me in your living room anymore, but I hope to see you out and about in the community. It’s been a wonderful career and my heart will always be with you.”

WJW president/general manager Greg Easterly tells the Plain Dealer’s Mark Dawidziak that it’s “a bittersweet moment”, and one the station knew was coming:

“She’s been talking to us about this for a while. This is the transition moment for her career and her life, and this about where she wants her life to be. She loves the viewers and she loves her co-workers, but she loves her husband more, which is understandable.”

Despite the presence of some significant local anchors with deep roots in the market – Romona Robinson at Raycom Media CBS affiliate WOIO/19’s “19 Action News” comes to mind – it’s hard not to go to the “the end of the big anchor” card.

And over at 13th and Lakeside, Gannett NBC affiliate WKYC/3 has made a big anchor bet on former CBS anchor Russ Mitchell and co-anchor Kris Pickel, not to mention the employment of another of the Big 80s anchor class – 7 PM co-anchor Robin Swoboda.

For that matter, names like “Fox 8 News”‘ own Bill Martin could make their own case for anchor importance.

But one by one, the anchor class Northeast Ohio grew up with, and later grew old with, is dwindling.

Do we start the Dick Goddard Retirement Watch yet? Does “NewsChannel 5” noon anchor Leon Bibb fit in this conversation?

Our sincere best wishes to Wilma Smith as she moves on from the TV news game in a couple of months and change…